Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Musa Kaleem was born Orlando Wright on January 3, 1921 in Wheeling, West Virginia. He bought a clarinet in 1937, and by 1939 was touring as a saxophonist with the El Rodgers Mystics of Rhythm, featuring Eddie Jefferson on lead vocals.
In the early 1940s he began using the name Gonga Musa, and then Musa Kaleem, the name by which he is best known. He played often in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the Fortiess, gigging with Erroll Garner, Mary Lou Williams, and Art Blakey.
In the middle of the decade he toured with Fletcher Henderson, then relocated to New York City and played with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, and the Savoy Sultans by the end of the 1940s. The 1950s saw Kaleem playing on cruise ships, however, upon his return in the 1960s he played with James Moody, Coleman Hawkins, Tiny Grimes, and rejoined Jefferson.
Saxophonist and flautist Musa Kaleem passed away on March 26, 1988 in Los Angeles, California.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank L. Marocco was born January 2, 1931 in Joliet, Illinois but grew up in Waukegan, near Chicago, Illinois. At the age of seven years, his parents enrolled him in a six-week beginner class for learning to play the accordion. His first teacher was George Stefani, who supervised the young accordionist for nine years. Beginning with studying classical music, he soon encouraged the young musician to explore other musical genres. He went on to study piano and clarinet, as well as music theory, harmony, and composition.
At 17, Frank won the first prize in the 1948 Chicago Musicland Festival, and a guest performance with the Chicago Pops Orchestra. His success sent him on a professional music career, establishing a trio and touring the Midwestern states. In the early 1950s he married and moved to Los Angeles, California.
Creating a new band, Marocco played hotels and clubs in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Palm Springs, California. He later began working in Hollywood, where television studios and movie production companies provided him a successful career.
In the 1960s, Frank recorded a solo album released by Verve Records, worked together with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, and performed on the world-famous album Pet Sounds. He performed on a USO tour in the Pacific, appearing onstage with Bob Hope, and also played in the Les Brown big band, during six Love Boat cruises. He performed and recorded in collaboration with hundreds of world-famous jazz musicians, classical artists and conductors during his career.
Marocco wrote and arranged music for solo, duet, and orchestra in a wide variety of musical styles, including jazz, popular standards, international, Latin, religious, and classical. He was the musical director and conductor of an annual music camp, the Frank Marocco Accordion Event, that brought together over 50 accordionists from around the U.S. and Canada.
Accordionist Frank Marocco passed away on March 3, 2012 at his home in San Fernando Valley, California from complications following hip replacement surgery. He was 81 years old.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Yoshio Ikeda (池田芳夫) was born on January 1, 1942 in Osaka, Japan. He received formal training in bass before studying jazz with Gary Peacock in the 1960s.
He led his own small groups in the Seventies, and has worked with Terumasa Hino, Masabumi Kikuchi, Steve Lacy, Akira Miyazawa, Yuji Ohno, Allan Praskin, Masahiko Sato, Masahiko Togashi, Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Aki Takase, and Sadao Watanabe. Double bassist Yoshio Ikeda continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Simon Brehm was born on December 31, 1921 in Sweden and learned to play the double~bass. He recorded three albums with Quincy Jones. Later in life, he became a record producer and owner of Karusell Records.
Very little is known or written about this musician, but he managed singer Lill-Babs and was the leader of the orchestra that played in the TV show Hylands hörna from 1962.
Double~bassist, composer, and record producer Simon Brehm passed away on February 11, 1967 at the age of 45
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Motley, Jr. was born December 30, 1923 in Cheraw, South Carolina and took trumpet lessons when he was young from Dizzy Gillespie, who was from the same town. He developed a technique of playing two trumpets at the same time, becoming known as “Dual Trumpet” and “Two Horn” Motley. Getting a degree in mechanical engineering at South Carolina State College, before joining the military, he performed in the Navy Band entertaining troops in the Pacific. After the end of the war he played in nightclubs in New York City before settling in Washington, D.C. and forming his own band in 1949.
He recorded extensively for Lillian Claiborne’s DC Records from 1951, and many of his recordings were licensed to other labels including RCA Victor and Specialty. His band, the Motley Crew, included singer and keyboardist Curley Bridges, drummer Thomas E. “TNT” Tribble, and vocalist Elsie “Angel Face” Kenley.
From 1952, he played mainly in Canada, marrying and moving to Toronto in 1955. However, he continued to perform and record in the United States. His biggest commercial success came in 1963, when his version of William Bell’s song Any Other Way, recorded with vocalist Jackie Shane for a small Boston label.
Disbanded the Motley Crew in 1966 he formed a new band in Toronto, the Hitch-Hikers, at first with Shane and then with singer Earle The Mighty Pope Heedram. The band broke up in 1970 but he continued to perform with another new band, the Bridge Crossings, until the mid 1980s. With his health declining he retired to Durham, North Carolina, where he continued to play in local dance bands. Trumpeter Frank Motley, who also sang, passed awayin Durham in 1998, aged 74.
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